You have two sexy stars in some very steamy scenes. Was that something that evolved or was it planned?
We talked about it from the beginning. In my humble experience, when two people come together for the first time, particularly when you're young, that reveling in each other -- that joy in being together and being naked together -- is part of it. And I had always seen it done in movies in a coy way, and I thought that the authenticity of the rest of the movie, whether it had to do with Parkinsons or the drug industry, had to be mirrored in their relationship. But we didn't want to do something that was exploitative, either. So a lot of it when you see them naked, it's them just talking and the sex is meant to be in the service of the story. In one moment, it's because they are trying to avoid conversation, and another moment, it's because there's a problem in the relationship that they're having to deal with. In another moment, it's about expression of emotion that they might have otherwise had trouble saying. So it is intrinsic to the story, rather than just another opportunity to look at their bodies. It's trying to be honest in the way to show how sex plays in a new relationship, both as a boon to the relationship and ironically, as a way of shutting them out so they don't have to talk about the other things that are happening.
You made everyone look pretty sexy, even Ohio, especially when you have the pseudo-orgy in the manse that looks like somewhere in Beverly Hills.
[Laughs] That was actually in Pittsburgh. There is an element of fantasy and wish fulfillment in every love story. And when you think of the iconography of love stories, it's usually two faces captured together in a particular moment, because something has combusted, and in your imagination, they're seared in this iconic way. We wanted the look of the movie to be realistic but also pretty. I think the wish of seeing a love story is to see one's self as one of those two people in that moment. And there are people with whom you identify and people you don't, and it's very hard to understand why one combination of actors works and one doesn't. But they also have to seem plausibly, but for a camera and a hundred people at a service table, [like they] might be together. When you see it foisted on you and it's wrong, there is something you resist. That 64-year-old actor with that 24-year-old girl, you say, 'No, I'm not buying that.'
If it weren't forRachel Getting Married, I'm not sure I would have been ready for Anne Hathaway in this role.
She has constantly challenged herself. I also saw her do Shakespeare in the park; she played Viola. She's artistically ambitious. And Jake is hugely talented, too, and some choices have been great choices and some, less than great.
Are we talking thatPrince of Persia video-game movie?
I'm not saying anything. I knew an aspect of Jake that I don't think audience did that is very funny, charming, and masculine. I think when people see his work in this, they'll forget that last one.
